Jerry Spinelli was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania on February 1, 1941. He received a bachelor's degree from Gettysburg College and a master's degree from Johns Hopkins University. He worked as an editor with Chilton from 1966 to 1989. He launched his career in children's literature with Space Station 7th Grade in 1982. His other works include Who Put That Hair in My Toothbrush? (1984), Fourth Grade Rats (1991), Do the Funky Pickle (1992), Who Ran My Underwear up the Flagpole? (1992), and Picklemania (1993). In 1991, he won the Newbery Award and the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award for Maniac Magee (1990). In 1998, his book Wringer was named a Newbery Honor book.